Before this season, those who favored going from a two-team playoff under the Bowl Championship Series to a four-team playoff — without expanding to six or eight teams, as some had hoped — cited the Goldilocks principle.

Four teams, they said, would increase fans’ interest and teams’ opportunities without diluting the most intense regular season in American sports. Four teams, they argued, were just right.

“Our regular season is absolutely unique in its level of importance — how compelling it is, and meaningful,” Bill Hancock, the playoff’s executive director, said before the season began.

Heading into Week 14 — the traditional rivalry weekend otherwise known as Hate Week — advocates for a four-team playoff seem vindicated. Several more teams have a chance to qualify to play for a national title than would have during the 16 seasons of the B.C.S. At the same time, it appears unlikely any team could lose another game and make the playoff. For more teams, this weekend’s games are must-wins — and not only because of bragging rights.

Under the B.C.S., said Gary Danielson, an analyst for CBS, “it became almost a fait accompli for the rest of the country these last three weeks — everyone else just had no shot, and the air had gone out of their season.” This season, he added, “I believe there’s way more juice.”

The latest playoff rankings, decided by the 12-member selection committee and released Tuesday night, kept the previous top four intact, with Alabama at No. 1 followed by Oregon, Florida State and Mississippi State.

Florida State is the sole undefeated major-conference team, while Marshall, of Conference USA, is also undefeated. The Thundering Herd and Boise State of the Mountain West made the committee’s top 25 for the first time. The highest-ranked conference champion from the Football Bowl Subdivision conferences outside the Big 5 is guaranteed a berth in one of the six playoff-affiliated bowls.

The top four teams in the committee’s final rankings, to be released Dec. 7, will play in the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1 — No. 1 versus No. 4 and No. 2 versus No. 3, with the top seed placed where it has greater home-field advantage. The winners will play for the national title on Jan. 12 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Tex.

There are three other one-loss teams — Texas Christian, Ohio State and Baylor, seeded Nos. 5, 6 and 7 — knocking at the door.

None of these seven top teams play each other before the playoff. So they must not only win, but also hope the committee smiles on them. It would be even easier if one (or four) of the others loses.

Despite the latest rankings, Baylor, T.C.U. and Mississippi State may have more to worry about than Ohio State, which will play for the Big Ten championship in Indianapolis on Dec. 6. By contrast, the Big 12, of which Baylor and T.C.U. are members, is not large enough to stage a championship game. And if Alabama defeats Auburn on Saturday, the Crimson Tide’s head-to-head tiebreaker would bar Mississippi State from the Southeastern Conference championship game.

In other words, it seems likely that the Bears, the Horned Frogs and the Bulldogs will have one less chance to prove themselves. And this could hurt them. “I think the committee tipped that off last week,” Danielson said. “Jeff Long"— the committee’s chairman and the Arkansas athletic director — “was asked why Baylor was not ranked over T.C.U. and he said, ‘Well, since Baylor has played one less game, we can’t compare their schedules yet.' ” (T.C.U. had a bye last weekend, and the teams are now both 9-1.)

The principle would continue to apply, Danielson added, as “a 12-1 Ohio State will have an advantage over an 11-1 Baylor or T.C.U.” Or an 11-1 Mississippi State. Of course, another game is also another chance to lose, and few would expect an 11-1 Baylor to be snubbed in favor of an 11-2 Ohio State.

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Texas Christian, above, along with Ohio State and Baylor, is a one-loss team knocking at the door of a top-four playoff ranking.CreditLM Otero/Associated Press

Several two-loss squads, who could end up playing one of those seven top teams, provide some of the more exciting, if long-shot, possibilities for qualifying.

Among them are No. 9 Georgia and No. 8 U.C.L.A. Georgia plays Georgia Tech on Saturday, and should the Bulldogs win — and should Missouri, ranked No. 17 by the committee, lose to suddenly powerful Arkansas, which ended No. 19 Mississippi’s playoff chances last weekend with a 30-0 victory — they would face Alabama or Mississippi State for the SEC championship on Dec. 6 (in Atlanta, no less). Similarly, if U.C.L.A. beats Stanford on Saturday, it will play Oregon for the Pacific-12 title.

Given the strength of those two teams and two leagues the committee would be hard-pressed to keep the Bulldogs and the Bruins out under those circumstances.

Missouri, No. 11 Arizona and No. 13 Arizona State could also end up playing for conference championships, although with slightly weaker résumés.

Wisconsin, Kansas State and Georgia Tech can also win their conferences as two-loss teams. (Though ranked above those teams, No. 10 Michigan State cannot.) Wisconsin and Minnesota play Saturday, with the winner facing Ohio State for the Big Ten title. If Kansas State beats Kansas this weekend and Baylor the next — and if T.C.U. loses — Kansas State will take the Big 12. Georgia Tech faces Florida State on Dec. 6 in Charlotte, N.C., for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship.

Finally, there is the chaos option. It looks something like this: Florida State swoons, and the combination of ceding undefeated status and its weak schedule causes it to fall out of the playoff picture. The Big 12 triumvirate falls apart. Minnesota wins and wins again, producing a three-loss Big Ten champion. All the top SEC teams lose this week, and, after Atlanta, the choices are 10-3 Alabama, 10-2 Mississippi State and 10-3 Georgia, the SEC champion. An Arizona squad ends up with the Pac-12 title. All the losing creates space at the top, and Michigan State and No. 15 Auburn sneak in.

Records fall and postseasons expand. But, in college football, Hate Week is forever.

Correction:

The On College Football column on Nov. 26, about the college football playoff rankings, misidentified the team that could have been the Southeastern Conference champion in a hypothetical situation in which all of the top SEC teams lost last week and Alabama lost the conference’s championship game. The team is Georgia, not Missouri.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B10 of the New York edition with the headline: Top Rankings Hold, but Playoff Keeps Things Interesting. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe